Gardeners' Notes:

One of my favorites! This is a beautiful, hardy, low-maintenance plant that does well in Central Florida, and is ideal for shady areas where grasses and other plants have difficulties. It can't handle full sun, but as long as it's in shade, or filtered sunlight, you can virtually ignore it and it will do fine. Give it a little care and attention, and you'll be rewarded with lush, fast-growing plants ideal for groundcover or as an attractive border for sidewalks and ornamental beds.

While doing some landscaping in the house we moved into, I discovered a few small clumps of solid green spider plants in a sandy, long-neglected flowerbed on a shady side of the house. The bed had been there for so long, it was practically obscured by brambles and dead leaves, and the landscapi... read moreng timbers had all but rotted away. When I first saw the spider plants, I thought they were weeds, but I liked the look of them. They resembled mondo grass, with wider, more tropical-looking leaves. So I cleared everything out of the bed except for these interesting-looking plants, and began periodically watering them and applying a little Osmocote.

In no time, these smallish, neglected plants became beautiful, robust specimens, sending out flowering runners, and making "babies" like crazy. As soon each baby plant had roots in the ground, I would clip it from the runner and transplant it to a different part of the yard. We live in a shady old neighborhood, and our front yard is the only part of the yard to receive full sun. The back and side yards are mostly in shade, and before I discovered the spider plants, I was unable to find anything that wasn't painfully slow-growing that would also thrive in those areas as an attractive ground cover. Now, these shady areas that were once sand and leaves are being filled in with spider plants against a taller backdrop of ferns. It looks beautiful, and it didn't cost me a dime. I just keep transplanting ferns and spider plants. And they just keep making more!

I have a question about the babies from the spider plant. I have been trying to root them but seem to have no luck. They will look good for a week or 2 and then the leaves turn brown and dies.
Can anyone give me info. on how to root them for surviving?

This is one of the first houseplants that I got when I started gardening. I got starts from my moms plants I am still growing them to this day( about a quarter of the pots in my house have one or more). They are extremely durable, tolerate low light to bright light, and if well established can go long periods without water. Reproduces abundantly. One of my favorite plants, I always have extras.

While this one doesn't have the pretty leaves like the variegated kind, it blooms much easier. I use both as border plants in my area, they die back in all but the most severe winters. I always keep a few inside over winter, just in case.

Spider plants are the first and foremost in the hanging basket plant area. They became popular during the Victorian period when decorative foliage plants adorned the parlor of all the finest homes. Flower scapes are produced in the summer with plantlets forming on those stems as the days get shorter in the fall. Of late, spider plant has enjoyed some sort of a 'come back" as they are sold in many stores today (2008).

The Spider Plant is from a South/Western African origin and seems to have been introduced into Europe by the end of the 18th century, most likely by the intrepid plant explorer Carl Peter Thunberg(1743-1828). Thunberg, after whom the flowering vine Thunbergia is named, was a student of Linnaeus who traveled in South Africa during 1772 and ‘ 73 where he collected... read more seeds, bulbs and dried plant specimens for his botanical work. Capetown was a popular resting place for ships heading home from China and passengers often took home souvenir plants on their return voyage just as we take home trinkets from our travels.

I love this fast growing plant. Every spring after danger of frost, I put this potted plant outside in the garden in shade to partial shade, let the watering system water it, and leave it alone. It grows crazy. Some of the babies have been planted around the garden 2 years ago. They are growing great! Not as fast as described in the Florida area, but I was surprised and pleased.

I took a "baby/offset" of a green Spider Plant growing in a restaurant called, Circles Grill, 9023 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11209. This restaurant has them growing in hanging baskets all around the windows (very pretty).

Spider Plants are easy to care for and have been a staple in houseplants for many many years. Just water, let dry out a bit & water again. I feed mine in spring/summer with Peters plant food.

This plant has been returning to my 7b garden for about ten years. I originally had several hanging baskets beneath two Eastern Red Cedars, Juniperus virginiana. Babies fell to the ground and rooted. I left them and didn't mow them down, fertilize them, nor water them. They are near the trunk of the two trees. Spring after spring they have returned, grown, had babies and made me happy. A plant couldn't be more carefree.

I have grown this plant in coastal South Carolina (Zone 8) for over 15 years. Temperatures as low as 10°F has not stopped it from growing and/or flowering. Excellent, tough plant and makes a great "pass-along" plant. Docturf

I have a Spider Plant in a hanging basket outside in the shade of a pine tree. This plant is virtually indestructible. Very forgiving. The little flowers are pretty but unobtrusive. My grandmother always had a few spider plants. They seem to be a houseplant staple here in Houston.

I have many of these which are have been doing very well for years. The plant I have came from my mother; hers came from her mother many years ago.

Mine are all in containers, but I'm not against trying them in the ground. It's very easy to root these in water or soil; they seem to do just fine in partial to little sun (I have one in my office window which receives no direct sunlight and it's growing like mad!).

I have had a spider plant in my house for a while and it sprouted out its shoots and they had flowers and the flowers dried up and turned into seeds and now I have 12 seeds of Chlorophytum comosum. The thing is, I dont know what they require to be propagated or at what depth to place them at.

I'm in So. California where it gets up to 115 degrees in the summer. I have this in the shade outside where it gets plenty of light and gets late afternoon shade. It has done very well for me in the 2 years I've had it. And have gotten approx 10 plants from each one. And had to split it twice in 2 years. I water it every other day. It does get brown ends in the summer but I just snip them off and it doesn't hurt it one bit. It does produce long outward stems with tiny flowers in the warmer weather. During the mid afternoon when the sun hits it, the leaves "lift" up. And goes back down in the shade. Very cute. Highly recommend it for all gardeners. I read somewhere that cats get attracted to this plant because it gives them a "high" smelling or rubbing against it. I do have a few cats that... read more come to do their business but I moved this to a higher place under my tree and it's been no problem.

I've had these plants thriving in my garden with no special care nor winter protection for about three years. I am in NE Fla on the borderline of Zone 8b/9a. These plants have survived temperatures as low as about 28 F on occasion for a few nights in winter. They return each year and spread by their bulblet "arms", though not as profusely as others have reported here. They make a nice ground cover at the base of oak trees and other semi-shady areas in the garden where little else will bloom and flower.

I live in central Florida (zone 9a) and have had good luck with both variegated and the solid green spiders in outdoor flower pots that I simple set in our summer kitchen during freezes.

Two years ago, in the summer, I was given a large galvanized aluminum washtub filled with solid green spider plants that had been kept outdoors under a tree all year round. I set it in the front flowerbed in full sun and watered it regularly. The plants went insane and started sending off babies everywhere that quickly established themselves in the ground.

In late fall I cut off all the babies and moved the tub into a more sheltered spot for the winter. I didn't do anything with the spiders that were growing in the flower bed. By spring it looked like all of the plants t... read morehat had been left out in the open had died but within a couple of weeks of the last frost they all started growing back. Then they started going insane and having babies! Some of the stems were about 3 feet long and branching with 1 or 2 babies on each branch! I now have spider plants acting like a quick spreading ground cover.

The spider plant is an attractive, easy to grow, and is simple to start new plants. I inherited my grandmothers spider plant and have been giving away the "grandchildren" plants for over 10 years now! It grows well in most any condition but from my experience it does best in a partially shaded area.

This is the solid green form of the more well known variegated spider plant.

I bought a large hanging basket of the variegated form of this plant and it contained atleast one plant that was solid green. I've potted up the offsets of that one and hope to eventually have a hanging basket of just solid green spider plants that's as big as my variegated one some day. I also hope it's as easy to grow as the variegated. That one's a cinch! LOVE it.